From Text to Context: How English Stylistics Works in Japanese

Masayuki TERANISHI
(University of Hyogo, Japan)
teranishi@shse.u-hyogo.ac.jp
4-2051-1, Tsudakadai, Okayama City,
701-1151, Japan

0. Introduction
In this study, I will discuss how stylistics works not only in English but also in
Japanese. Firstly in section 1, I will review the role of English (education) in Japan. In
section 2, I will show some examples of English styles which are adapted to Japanese in
a creative manner. In section 3 I will discuss how to teach English and literature in an
English classroom in Japan. In section 4, I will discuss how we can use literary texts
effectively, referring to my own lessons in which Thomas Hardys The Oxen and
Masaoka Shikis (1867-1902) tanka poem are used in a classroom setting. I will pay
special attention to the theory of from text to context. Finally in section 5, I will
discuss the issue of Free Indirect Discourse (FID) in English and Japanese, arguing that
paying attention to this significant linguistic and stylistic phenomenon will help to
improve language awareness in both English and Japanese.

1. The role of English (Education) in Japan

In this section, I discuss how the status of English as the international language has
been changing in Japan by considering the fact that as the economic tie between Japan
and China has been becoming stronger rapidly, the Chinese language has become much
more important to Japan.
Pursuing this issue, I also refer to the Japanese peoples negative reaction to
English. In his bestseller book, The Dignity of the Nation, Fujiwara argues:

Everyone always associates the Japanese word kokusaijin, international

person, with the English language. But there is no direct link between
international people and the English language. My definition of an international
person is someone who will be respected as a person when they go overseas.
As a high school student, I had enormous confidence in my English ability, and
regularly took first or second place in all the mock exams. I was sure I was the best
English student in Japan.
I was rather taken aback when I actually went to the United States and Britain
and found that everyone spoke better English than I did. But what proportion of the
Americans and the British can be described as international people? Less than a
tenth, I would say, their ability to speak English is an irrelevance. Being taught
English at elementary school is absolutely no guarantee of growing up to be an
international person. (Fujiwara 2007 [2005]: 205-207)

In 2000, when Japan was suffering from a serious economic recession, the Japanese
government was planning to designate English as the official language. While there are
still many to support this measure, it should be pointed out that many Japanese feel
uncomfortable about it. Fujiwaras argument is that the Japanese language is most
important to Japanese, and, first and foremost, they should master Japanese, especially

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Chinese characters, before starting to learn English.
Fujiwaras warning implies that in Japan where English is taught as the first foreign
language, it has become much more important than before for an English teacher to
emphasize that English education does not hinder Japanese education but actually they
have a great combined effect. Thus one of the themes of this study is whether or not the
study of English and English stylistics can enhance language awareness in both English
and your native language.

2. How English style is adapted to Japanese

In this section I show how the application of English style to Japanese works by
focusing upon innovative phonological features in Japanese. While there has been no
marked development in rhyme in the long history of Japanese, some Japanese with good
command of English create innovative styles of Japanese by introducing English
rhyming systems. For example, in the advertisement of a book written by a bilingual
professor of international politics and politician, Kuniko Inoguchi, hirumanai!
higamanai! hipparanai! ga aikotoba, that means I never flinch, envy others success,
nor cry over spilt milk, both alliteration and end rhymes are employed. This example
seems to suggest that the Japanese who have a good command of English, stylistics
specifically, can use even Japanese in a creative manner and also English skills are
advantageous to become aware of creativeness in Japanese.

3. Teaching English through literature

In this section I discuss how to use literary texts in an English classroom. As many
studies, such as Hall (2005), suggest, literary texts have significant general merits for
language education. For example, it is a good source to learn culture and thought from.
Another merit is that literary text can be a good teaching material through which to
learn a targeted language. To make these merits palpable, however, it is essential to
consider how we can make the best use of a literary text or what we can do to produce a
good reader of literature.
Brumfit (1986: 188), for example, argues:

The fundamental ability of a good reader of literature is the ability to generalize

from the given text either to other aspects of the literary tradition or to personal or
social significances outside the literature.

Discussing text and context, Durant and Fabb (1990: 25) also emphasize:

Received opinion about literature obscures actual contact with the text; and the best
way to get around this is to strip away context and accumulated opinion: to read
closely for yourself.

They seem to agree that overdependence upon an authors or a works background can
hinder students autonomous interpretation. This is why not only the language teacher
but also the literature teacher needs to encourage students to focus upon language.
Thus, the principle of from text to context is significant, not only to improve language
skills and awareness, but also to understand, interpret and learn from the literary piece
of work.
On the other hand, from a pedagogical point of view, especially when the students

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are not familiar with the cultural background in a given text, we should consider to what
extent the students need background information, and what should be given to students
in advance. Therefore, while the principle of from text to context is significant, we
need to emphasize that (1) background knowledge is essential for a reader to tackle the
text confidently and (2) the teachers role is significant in encouraging students to
associate a specific stylistic feature with a specific interpretation.

4. Reading a poem through the pedagogical stylistic approach

In this section I examine the validity of from text to context as the reading theory
and as the teaching method, using Hardys famous poem, and Masaoka Shikis tanka
poem.

(A) The Oxen

To analyze and teach The Oxen, I referred to Carter and Longs (1987) minute
insightful analysis of the poem. The following shows how I used the poem in my
language and literature classroom.

The Oxen

Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.

Now they are all on their knees,
An elder said as we sat in a flock
By the embers in hearthside ease.

We pictured the meek mild creatures where

They dwelt in their strawy pen,
Nor did it occur to one of us there
To doubt they were kneeling then.

So fair a fancy few would weave

In these years! Yet, I feel,
If someone said on Christmas Eve,
Come; see the oxen kneel

In the lonely barton by yonder coomb

Our childhood used to know,
I should go with him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so.

I started my lesson by introducing the poem to the students as follows:

The Oxen was written at the turn of a century, from the 19 th to the 20th. Lets read
the poem carefully and examine how the 19th century and the 20th century are
reflected there.

Most students studied world history for the entrance examination and thus should have
some background information. However, they are not literature majors and their
background knowledge should not be considered as adequate enough. More

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significantly, it is highly difficult for them (and Japanese students in general) to
associate this poem with its social and historical background. Therefore, I asked the
students the following questions so that they can associate the poem with the context
more easily.

(a) Do you know Charles Darwin? Do you know any of his books?
(b) What did he say in On the Origin of Species1859?
(c) What are characteristics of the 19th century What are characteristics of the
20th century
(d) Did they believe in God in the 19th century? How about in the 20th century or
now?
(e) Who are more satisfied with life, people in 19th century, 20th century, or 21st
century?

Next I led the students to focus upon stylistic features. I emphasized some specific
stylistic features.

(1) Sentence structure: e.g. long VS short; simple VS complex, etc.

(2) Which personal pronouns are used in each stanza?
(3) Are there any modal verbs used?
(4) How are these differences in style related to the theme of the poem?

The question (1) turned out to be a little difficult to my students (partly because English
itself is difficult for them!). Some students, however, gave insightful answers, such as:

(i) In the first two stanzas sentence structures are rather simple.
(ii) In the third and fourth stanzas they are complicated; the first sentence in the third
stanza is, for example, an inverted sentence and the next sentence, Yet, I feel, if
someone said [] extends into the fourth stanza.

The questions (2) and (3) were, on the other hand, appropriate to many students. In
fact, some students were able to connect these stylistic features with the background of
the poem: while the use of the personal pronoun we may reflect the 19 th century
aspects such as trust in others, and community, the use of the personal pronoun I
and modal verbs (would, should, and might) may reflect the 20 th century aspects
such as loneliness and scepticism.

(B) Masaoka Shikis tanka poem

I used the same procedure (from text to context) in a classroom where language and
culture are the main issue, by employing a Japanese tanka poem. Masaoka Shiki, a
Japanese poet, argued that both tanka and haiku should be drawing, that is, represent
things as they really are. The other significant background information is that he
suffered from tuberculosis and a spinal caries, which made him bedridden, and was to
die at a young age. The following tanka poem is considered as one of his masterpieces.

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Kame n i s a s u

Inserted in the vase
Fuji n o hana b u s a

The Corolla of the Japanese wisteria

Was so short
Ta t a m i n o ue n i

The surface of tatami mat
To d o ka z a r i k e r i

couldnt reach

Placed in order, the poem can be translated as follows:

The corolla of the Japanese wisteria inserted in the vase was so short that it could
not reach the tatami mat. (Translated by Teranishi)

However, the translation (from the ancient Japanese to modern Japanese and then to
English) does not render the interpretation of this poem. The next task is to guess or
discover what is implicit in this poem and to confirm how it is reflected in the language
of the poem.
Even though the poet may attempt to represent things as they really are, he cannot
take a perfectly objective position. I focus upon these two expressions: short and
couldnt reach, and asked the students whether they are positive or negative. They
agreed that they are negative expressions.
The next question might be much subtler, but it should be much more significant,
relevant to the theme of the poem:

Do you think it is possible for someone standing to see whether something reaches
tatami mat from the above? From what perspective is the poet looking at the
flower?

One of the students answered that the poet must be looking at the wisteria from
below. One model answer is that the poet likens the flower to himself, who will soon
die of the illness without making his dream come true. Judging from this students
response to the poem, the method of from text to context seems to have worked in this
lesson. As far as teaching of The Oxen and Shikis tanka poem is concerned, we could
give the following (tentative) conclusions:

1. Students can guess the context from the text (with the teachers guide)
2. The English stylistic analytical framework is applicable to Japanese language
learning.
3. Students learn to focus upon textual features when reading any literary text.

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5. Free Indirect Discourse in English and Japanese
Finally in this section I discuss the issue of FID in English and Japanese. I argue
that comparing the natures of the different languages, the students can improve their
language awareness in both English and Japanese.
According to Hirose (1995; 2010), there is no equivalent in Japanese to FID:

To begin with, in Japanese the phenomenon of so-called Free Indirect Speech (and
Thought) cannot be the issue Because it is possible to represent other persons
consciousness as it is, unless the narrator (or reporter) employs public expression.
(Hirose 2010: 27, translated by Teranishi)

Hirose (1995) defines public expression and private expression as follows:

[] the private self is the subject of a private expression act, and the public self is
the subject of a public expression act. [] they are the subject of thinking and the
subject of communicating, respectively []
Japanese has different words for private and public self. The private self is
expressed by the word zibun self. The public self, on the other hand, is expressed
by a variety of self-reference such as boku I (male), watasi I (formal), watakushi
I(very formal), ore I (male, informal) [] (Hirose 1995: 230)

Thus in the following example extracted from the translated version of Ayako Miuras
Shiokari Pass, the original Japanese word, zibun (self) as a private expression, is
translated into Free Indirect Thought in English.

(1) (2)

(1) Nobuo wa [seisho no issetu wo] kurikaeshi te nido yonda. (2) Zibun wa
hatashite hokano hitono tameni inochi wo suteru hodo no ai wo motu koto ga
dekiru darou ka.

(1) Nobuo read the passage [of the Bible] through again. (2) Did he really have
enough love for somebody else to throw away his life for them?
(Bill and Sheila Fearnehough (trans.), Shiokari Pass, cited in Hirose, 2010,
pp 27-28. The underlining is mine.)

In both the Japanese original and English translation, (1) is narration of the characters
action of reading. In (2), it is instructive to examine how differently key aspects of
thought representation; personal pronouns, tense, and expressive elements (question
here) are dealt with between the two versions. Zibun or self in Japanese is changed to
third-person pronoun he in English, dekiru darou is present-tense but in the English
version past tense is used, and ka is a postpositional particle to form question and thus
in English a question mark is used.
So as Hirose points out, it is possible for the narrator to represent the other persons
consciousness from his/her inside, by employing private expression instead of public

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expression. Therefore, it may be inferred that the Japanese language does not have to
rely on FID to represent someones consciousness from his/her inside.
On the other hand, the following passage, extracted from Mishima Yukios novel,
Megami (Goddess), may be a rare case of FID in Japanese. In this passage, Shugos
wife is explaining to him that Shunji, whom Shugo wishes their daughter Asako to
marry, has an illegitimate child. The narrator represents the thought of Shugo, who is
shocked by this fact.

(1)

(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)

(8)

(1) While listening to this, the pathetic voice of Asako, who had suddenly
interrupted his suggestion in Karuizawa last year, was still loudly ringing in (her?)
poor fathers ears.
(2) Ah! You must not do that (to ask Shunji whether he loves Asako), please.
Dont ever do it.
(3) When Asako showed that sudden change of attitude, she must have begun to
realize Shunjis secret. (4) What suffering Asako has endured! (5) What a disgrace
my (?) proud daughter has fought against just for love! (6) My (?) daughter must be
sitting on the chair in the nightclub, her eyes made blank from the pleasure of being
with the man she loves, (7) her heart incessantly aching with jealousy and
humiliation but still unable to leave him, pretending not to know the secret, even
unable to look at the man from the front to blame him. (8) How completely different
Asakos wretched stumbling is from the future Shugo has wished for her!
Mishima 2006: 138-9, translated by Teranishi.

In this context, Shugo, the father, is completely mistaken about his daughter Asakos
feelings: he believes that Asako is in love with Shunji, and that she hesitates to discover
whether he loves her because she found that Shunji has an illegitimate child. But
actually, Asako rejects her fathers suggestion because she has fallen in love with
another man and in this context she is not concerned with whether Shunji loves herself
or not. So in this passage it seems that the omniscient narrator ironically echoes Shugo
thought.
The passage contains at least three stylistic features worth noting. Firstly, no past
tense verbs are used from (3), which may encourage the reader to interpret the section
from (3) to (8) as Shugos Free Direct Thought (FDT). Secondly, in (4) and (8)
exclamation marks (which are not included in Japanese orthography) are used, which
encourages us to consider whether (4) and (8) are private expression or public
expression. Finally in (8), the reference to Shugo by his name (not zibun or self)

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incites the reader to construct the presence of narrator.
Since my translation was made as literal as possible, present tense verbs employed
in the original Japanese are retained as in the English version. So as far as the tense is
concerned, it seems to be FDT or monologue with no narratorial intervention. However,
(8) is worth noticing, because the reference to Shugo by his name may reflect the
presence of narrator: this does not reflect the characters perspective. It seems like the
prototypical ironical echo possibly produced by FID in English classical realist novels
like that of George Eliot. Considering Mishimas profound knowledge on occidental
literature (including English and French), I would say that here Mishima attempts to
embody the narrative situation, equivalent to FID in English.

6. Conclusion
Throughout this study, I have attempted to demonstrate that the knowledge of
English stylistics can help improve language awareness and thus communication skills
even in our native language. While so-called communicative approach popular in
Japanese English education requires students to memorize fixed conversational phrases,
generally such phrases have contextually limited use and offer few opportunities to
consider the nature of English (still less of your native language). On the other hand, as
I have argued, by examining by theory and practice how language works, pedagogical
stylistic approach to literature will give the students more profound and universal
knowledge of language. As far as my lessons are concerned, pedagogical stylistics can
work in literature and language education in both English and Japanese.
I have also argued that the influence of foreign language(s) upon Japanese may be
an issue to ponder in discussing Japanese classics. For this purpose, I have analyzed
how Mishima stylistically deals with speech and thought presentation in his novel.
Pursuing this issue further, we should examine other significant Japanese writers such as
Nitobe Inazo, the author of Bushido (1899). I conclude this study by emphasizing that
further studies are essential to reinforce the argument set forth here.

References
Brumfit, Christopher. 1986. Reading skills and the study of literature in a foreign
language. In Christopher Brumfit & Ronald Carter (eds.) Literature and Language
Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Carter, Ronald & Michael N. Long. 1987. The Web of Words: Exploring Literature
through language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Durant, Alan & Nigel Fabb. 1990. Literary Studies in Action. London: Routledge.
Hall, Geoff. 2005. Literature in Language Education. New York: Palgrave.
Hardy, Thomas 1994 The Oxford Poetry Library: Thomas Hardy, (ed.) by Samuel
Hynes, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hirose, Yukio. 1995. Direct and indirect speech as quotations of public and private
expression. Lingua 95. 223-238.
Hirose, Yukio & Hasegawa Yoko. 2010. Nihonngo kara Mita Nihonjin: Shutaisei no
Gengogaku (Japanese People from the Viewpoint of Japanese Language: The
linguistics of Subjectivity). Tokyo: Kaitakusha.
Mishima, Yukio. 2006 [1950]. Megami. Tokyo:Shinchosha.
Nitobe, Inazo 1969 [1899] Bushido: The Soul of Japan, Rutland: Charles E. Tuttle
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Murray.Tokyo: IBC Publishing.